The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has agreed to repay motorists more than $62 million in excessive fees to settle a long-running class-action lawsuit.

More than 5 million BMV customers qualify for refunds under the agreement, which was approved recently in Marion Superior Court and became effective this week.

Attorney Irwin Levin of the Indianapolis law firm Cohen Malad, which represented motorists in the lawsuit, plans to formally announce the settlement Thursday morning in a news conference at the firm's offices.

The settlement includes $28.5 million in refunds for customers who were overcharged between 2002 and mid-2006 for driver licenses, vehicle registrations and other services. It also includes $33.6 million that the agency began returning to customers last year for transactions from 2006 to 2014.

Levin said most motorists who qualify for refunds would be entitled to somewhere between $1 and $50, depending on the type and number of their BMV transactions over the 12-year period.

Together with previous settlements and refunds, the BMV has now admitted to charging Hoosier drivers more than $115 million in higher-than-allowed taxes and fees during the past 15 years.

“We think this is an important case because it demonstrates what citizens can do when they use the courts to hold government accountable for its misconduct," Levin said Wednesday.

On top of the refunds, the settlement also requires the BMV to pay nearly $7 million in attorneys fees to Cohen Malad. The firm already received $6 million in attorneys fees for its work on an earlier lawsuit that resulted in about $30 million in BMV refunds.

"The BMV is pleased to have resolved this protracted litigation, and it looks forward to providing excellent service to Hoosiers," said outside counsel Carl Hayes, who represented the BMV in the case.

Under the settlement, overcharges after mid-2006 will be refunded in the form of credits toward future BMV transactions. For overcharges incurred before mid-2006, customers must fill out an electronic claim form on the BMV's website, where motorists can find a list of the excessive fees.

The settlement closes a tumultuous chapter for the troubled agency, which has cycled through four commissioners in as many years.

An IndyStar investigation in 2015 found that top BMV officials knew for years they were gouging motorists with excessive fees, but chose to ignore or cover up the overcharges rather than refund the extra money and adjust to significant budget losses.

The investigation also raised questions about the role of political patronage and conflicts of interest in the fee scandal, leading to ethics charges against the BMV's former chief of staff and the demotion of its chief financial officer.